The Bigot: Why Prejudice Persists by Stephen Eric Bronner is a big little book, meaning a lot of valuable insight, historical context, and useful distinctions for a murky subject. It will help clarify thoughts; but it does not offer a solution, unless self-education and self-awareness is as close to one an individual is ever likely to get. If the reader has the habit of underlining important passages and adding marginalia, give it up because there will be no white space left on any page.

A sense of the scope of the book can be taken from the Appendix: Beginnings, that lists books and films for further study, organized by topics: Modernity, Anti-Semitism, Sexism, Racism, Gay Life, The True Believer, The Elitist, The Chauvinist, Islamopholia, Fanaticism, and Intolerance. His definitions distinguish between bigot, chauvinist, elitist, and racist, whether dressed in outdated attire or the latest political cover. He does not spare names. Charles Marlin